Author: Lorin Olsen

Is Money the Root of All Evil?

Lorin Olsen


For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. – 1 Timothy 6:10

Today has been an extraordinarily busy day.  There is always something going on at Chez Olsen.  And today was no exception.  As everyone knows, I took a new job this fall.  I’ve been with my new employer for a few months now.  And it was high time that I addressed some nagging financial issues.  With this in mind, it was time to start consolidating various retirement instruments I’ve collected in the past few years.
That’s right.  This week was rollover week.  And today was reinvestment day.  Over the past few years, we’ve been good at setting aside money in employer-matched 401K instruments.  But I’ve never actively managed my portfolio.  And it would be fair to say that my inaction has resulted in substantial deterioration of our retirement future.
But there is no better time to address missteps than the present.  On Thursday, I opened an IRA account with Fidelity.  I chose Fidelity for a number of reasons.  First, they are a reputable corporation.  Second, they have substantial money under management.  Third, they have an immense diversity of mutual funds to choose from.  Fourth, they have an excellent suite of investment tools.  Fifth, they minimize investment costs if you use their funds.  All of these were important.  But since I had three 401K accounts with Fidelity already, the lure of an easy rollover with little or no costs to transfer funds between instruments was too attractive to pass up.
Since all of the rollover monies cleared yesterday, it was time to start the allocation process.  BTW, this process is no simple affair.  Basically, you must select financial instruments that meet your personal goals.  And these goals vary between people.  For the young, aggressive risk-taking is far more acceptable than it is for those who are rapidly approaching retirement.  For me, I expect to be working a minimum of fifteen more years.  And with currently good health and a real love of what I do, I think that I have at least twenty more years in me.
If you really want to do a complete risk assessment, seek the help of a professional.  Or at least do some serious reading.  In my case, I’ve read a whole lot of good books on the subject.    The two best books that I’ve read are as follows:

  1. Mutual Funds For Dummies, Eric Tyson
  2. Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: Five-Star Strategies for Success, Christine Benz

These two books have been quite helpful for me.  But there are dozens of great books on the subject.  These two are just a start.  And if you’re not brave enough to do your own research (or rich enough to pay a huge management fee), you can always choose to invest in a target date fund.
So what were the fund types and allocations I chose?  I don’t feel comfortable enough to publicly proclaim my ignorance – at least, not yet.  But I chose an asset mix which favors equities more than bonds.  After all, I expect to be working (and blogging) for years to come.  And I chose a good mix of domestic and international funds.  I also struck a balance between intermediate and long-term investments.  Finally, I lessened my overall risk by ensuring a really good investment diversity.
Next, I began the process of choosing funds.  I chose assets with good track records.  And I avoided sector-specific funds.  I also decided not to invest in index funds (i.e., ETF’s).  I read a lot of fund prospectus documents.  [Note: I read the first few pages.]  And I checked with Morningstar on the track record of each fund I considered.
If my decision process actually results in better-than-market returns, I will surely publish my processes and my thoughts.  And if I really screw up, I’ll probably post that as well.  Either way, I am sure that some of you can learn from my successes and failures.  And if I’m lucky, you may leave some comments that may learn from.
Either way, my work on this is not yet done.  Indeed, I am learning as I am doing.  Nevertheless, there is one simple truth I’ve realized thus far: I am taking concrete actions to become more involved in my future economic outlook.  Let’s hope that each of you have already taken the first few steps towards your own financial independence.  If not, today is the best day to start that process.
But let’s remember that planning for the future and abandoning the present for a “hope” that is beyond your reckoning are two separate things.  We are to be like the lilies of the field.  Trust that God will be with you through every step.  And always invite him to be part of the decision-making process.  Pray as you research. Pray more as you invest.  And always remember that your father in heaven will be with you regardless of your successes or failures.
-Roo

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Competition Is Necessary…and Wonderful

Lorin Olsen

Crome's New Search Preview of Firefox v4b7

Over the past few months, Firefox has been smoked by Chrome, Safari and even IE9 (beta).  As of this morning, that finally changed.  The new Firefox 4 beta now showcases the new Jaeger Javascript engine.  And it is quite fast.
But the competition is not resting on its laurels.  There are new addons to preview search results w/o clicking through to the underlying page.  It’s a cool little feature that should help speed searches for many folks.  And it will certainly boost the page fetches for most sites.  I would guess that this will also boost the page rank for most Adsense sites.
So why do I care about these two browser features?  I care because it is proof that the browser competition is still active.  We will see brave new features and accelerated development as long as development stays active… and stays open to the public.
May the browser wars never cease.
-Roo

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My Black Beauty

Lorin Olsen

I have gotten more than a few notes chiding me for not showing pics of my new girl (see above).  She is a 2011 Surly LHT.  And I really love the black paint job and accoutrements.  I’m still waiting for a front rack.  But otherwise, she is outfitted with everything I need.  I especially love the kickstand!
As a steel bike, the ride is wonderfully smooth.  She takes potholes, road cracks and the occasional road repair efforts with ease.  And the new rear lighting system (including a Topeak UFO light and a Blackburn Flea) ensures that I am completely visible while riding in the dark (at dawn and dusk).
I’m debating what comes next (after the arrival of the front rack).  It might be different pedals or a new front lighting system.  But both will wait for another six months or so.  In the meantime, the next objective will be to pay the balance on a bicycle commuting jacket and a pair of platform shoes.  But for now, me and my girl are having a wonderful ride to and from work.
-Roo

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What Does Your Wife Think About Wardriving?

Lorin Olsen

For those who have read my blog for any amount of time, you already know that I am oddly fascinated with security.  Am I a certified information security professional?  No, I am not – at least, not yet.  Nevertheless, I have been fascinated by both the techniques and the ethics of hackers.
And that fascination is nothing new.  I installed my first WiFi access point last century.  And I have had WiFi access within my home ever since.  I did my first “war-walking” through my neighborhood in 2002.  Then, I had a laptop an a PCMCIA card.  And it was fun to know just how few of my neighbors had installed WiFi into their houses.  Those that had taken the plunge were woefully under-secured.
But things sure have changed in the last decade.  Now, over half of my neighbors also have WiFi.  And more importantly, most have some form of security on their networks.  At the same time, the tools I use have also changed.  I now have a Droid 2 phone.  And I am using tools like Wardrive and Wigle Wifi.
I have done two simple “wardriving” runs since I got my Droid 2.  The first was on a car drive coming home from work.  The second was on a bike ride to work.  What fascinated me was just how many access points I found within such a small area.  And more startling was the fact that I had found a thousand “new” access points and networks.  [Note: “New” means that wigle.net did not have a record of this device at the specific GPS coordinates that I provided.]
After a very long day yesterday, I decided not to ride my bike home.  I just didn’t have the heart to fight traffic after eleven hours at work.  So I rode home with my wife.  And I talked to her about my day.  When I told her that I had done some wardriving, she was appalled.
As a geek, I was perplexed by her response.  When I was riding my bike and collecting data, I was just inventorying the packets that were available from the street.  And I was not even trying to probe the defenses of these networks.  I was just cataloging the packets that my phone collected as I rode by.  Nevertheless, my wife thought that I was doing something nefarious.  I bristled at her “lack of understanding” of the simple and innocuous inventory I had collected.
But after several hours of thinking about her comments, I think I can understand her objection.  Most of the people that have WiFi access points have no idea about computer security, licensed and unlicensed RF spectrum, existing law (in the form of local, state and federal statutes) or even the curiosity of hackers.  What these users are doing is simple: they are using their home systems to perform simple tasks.  And they are expecting a certain degree of privacy – even if they are doing the equivalent of electromagnetically shouting through their windows.  Basically, people are assuming and expecting privacy.  And to collect their carelessly scattered packets is a violation of an implicit trust arrangement.
But was I a party to that trust arranggement?  No, I was not.  Nor were these people’s neighbors party to any such agreement – either implicit or explicit.  Nor was Google a party to this implicit agreement.
Nevertheless, I can hear my wife blaming Google as well as blaming myself.  Is she right?  As a geek, I scream my objections to her misunderstanding.  But when I really consider her argument, she may very well have a point.  Yes, these people are ignorantly casting their data out into the air and onto the streets.  And I willingly picked up that data.  Am I attempting penetration of their networks?  Of course I’m not doing that.  But I am sifting through the junk they are throwing out.
I’ve come to a simple conclusion: I wasn’t “wardriving” at all.  Instead, I was doing the equivalent of electronic dumpster diving.  They are leaving important trash un-shredded.  And I am rummaging through their ignorance.
Should I stop collecting such small and insignificant packets?  After all, I am not doing anything illegal.  Nevertheless, I must now carefully consider my wife’s thoughts before I do my next “wardriving” run.
And even more importantly, I must rethink whether or not this activity become illegal/immoral when someone like Google does it.  It may be tenable when it is done by a lone and curious geek.  But does it become something more “sinister” when it is done by a large and “menacing” corporation?   I don’t know.  But I’ll have to think about it.  What are your thoughts on the matter?
-Roo

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Coincidence and Convergence

Lorin Olsen


It’s a Saturday.  That means I can play with things at home.  This weekend, my wife is in Houston with my oldest daughter (Meredith).  Bailey came home to “help” me with Jayden.  Of course, that means that she is out with her boyfriend – and I’m here alone with Jayden.  [Please know that this is very cool with me as my grandchild is a gem.]
But it is Saturday.  So I have to play with some kind of technology.  Earlier this week, I watched the new Iron Man 2 on Blu-Ray.  But before the movie began to play, I got a popup on the TV about a new firmware load for the Blu-Ray player.  So I loaded the firmware, rebooted the player and watched the movie.
But Saturday is for play so I had to know what had been loaded.  I went to the menu and noted that the Viera menu on the player had been updated.  OK, that must mean a problem was fixed, a feature was added or both.  I didn’t see anything in the Amazon Video on Demand screens.  But I did notice a “More” button that seemed new.  So I pressed it.
Lo and behold, there was now a menu option for Pandora.  For those who don’t know what Pandora is, you probably need to browse the web more often.  Pandora is an excellent streaming music service.  Yes, it plays your music – or music that someone thinks that you might like.  It is fairly good at picking music that I like.  But I like almost any music.
So I logged into Pandora and now I can stream any of the playlists/channels that I want to hear.  There is a fairly good on screen menu.  But most importantly, it plays the sound through my Blu-Ray player – which is hooked into a fairly good audio system.
Now I have good sounds whenever I want them.  What started as a good computer service has now morphed into a service that I can use with my home entertainment complex.  This is very cool convergence – and I wouldn’t have even noticed this except that I noticed the firmware patch that Panasonic released.
-Roo

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Secure Access…On the Go

Lorin Olsen


For the past few years, I’ve enjoyed the ability to log onto my home system while I’ve been at work.  The process was simple: I would launch PuTTY from my USB drive.  From there, I’d set up a encrypted tunnel through my router to my primary home system.  I would then use a VNC client to tunnel my desktop access through SSH.  But all of that changed when I started my new job.
At my new employer, I was no longer able to use SSH to access my home system.  I totally understand why port 22 was blocked.  But I really didn’t want to start tunneling stuff through DNS.  Fortunately, my new phone provided the answer to my need for desktop access.  After doing a bunch of research, I decided that I would use ConnectBot and androidVNC on my Android phone.
But there are always hiccups when doing something new.  At first, I had trouble with public key encryption to my home system.  I would never back down from this requirement.  So I let the issue sit until I had a few more hours to fiddle with parameters.  And tonight was that time.
I tried to use my existing public keys.  But that strategy was fraught with trouble – i.e., I couldn’t get it to work.  So I decided to reverse polarity on the device.  OK, I’m not Scotty.  But I decided to generate the key on the phone (via ConnectBot) and mail the public key component to myself.  I then imported the key into WinSSHd.  Unfortunately, this didn’t solve the problem.
So more research revealed that WinSSHd only supports ‘xterm’ emulation.  So I updated my ConnectBot settings and tried yet again.  And voila, my phone could connect to my home system.  So I had a command prompt.  And everything looked good.  But the job wasn’t done yet.  I wanted full screen access.  So it was time to do more research.
It was easy to set PuTTY up on my desktop.  I just needed to find out where the options were in the ConnectBot tool.  Enter the work of Wayne Perg.  His excellent tutorial pointed me to the port forwarding directives in ConnectBot.  Within a few minutes, I reconfigured androidVNC.  I am now able control my desktop from my phone.
Folks, technology is fantastic.  And it is even more fantastic when you can find the answers to your questions through the previous work of others.  If there is one thing I can still teach my kids, I hope that I can help them to use Google (or other search engines) to find real answers.  The truth is out there.
-Roo

A Little Bit of Firmware Magic…

Lorin Olsen


My Droid 2 is one month old.  And up until a few minutes ago, I was happy but not ecstatic.  That’s because I could never connect my D2 up to my home WiFi network.  Since this wasn’t my number one priority, I let the situation fester until I had a few moments – and a need to have more bandwidth at home.
Well, the time came tonight.  I had a few hours and I have been toying with the idea of rooting the D2.  I haven’t done that yet.  If I do, you will be the first folks I tell.  But I knew that if I wanted to do his, I’d need to download a lot of stuff to the phone.  So the guantlet was thrown down and I eagerly picked it up.
I did the simple stuff first:

  • I turned off MAC filtering as I didn’t know what MAC address my phone used.
  • I enabled SSID broadcasts.
  • I stepped down my default encryption to WPA.

None of these solved the problem.  So I started to do some research.  Unfortunately, there was nothing obvious in Google about DD-WRT incompatibilities that prevented Motorola D2 devices from connecting.
But I did see enough to make me scratch my head.  I thought, “what if the beta build I was using was to blame for the inability to connect.”  So I went to the DD-WRT site and noted that I was on an April test build.  I grabbed the latest build (i.e., 14896 from August).  And what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a connected D2 and a wh0le lot more cheer.  Folks, I truly love being able to research my own problems and solve them myself.  This is what systems analysis is all about.
BTW, it really is nice to have so much more bandwidth for the phone.  I can’t wait for 4G to become ubiquitous.
-Roo
 

I Really Love Technology

Lorin Olsen

This isn’t the first time you will hear me say that “I Really Love Technology.”  But it’s true.  In March of this year, I got a chance to remember how technology has saved my life.  I had my first defibrillator replaced at that time.  I got a shiny new Medtronic Virtuoso II unit.  And things were fine for over six months.
And then I got a new bike.  OK, it isn’t the bike’s fault.  But it always seems that I find out more about these units when I’m cycling.  And here is where the story begins…
Eight years ago, I was riding my bike when I learned that there was a problem with the lead that was inserted into my left ventricle.  That problem resulted in a total of eight (8) unnecessary shocks.  And the resolution was a surgery to have the leads replaced.
Last week, I was riding home from work when my new ICD proved its existence by nudging me with a 300V shock.  OK, it wasn’t a nudge.  It was more like a really big th-wack in the middle of my chest.  But it only happened once.  After making it home, I sent the digital data via modem to my cardiologist.  And the EP tech told me I had experienced another inappropriate shock due to t-wave over-sensing by the ICD.
If you take a look at the EKG strip (above), you will see what happened.  My heart was beating at about 130 bpm.  But my device thought that my heart was beating at over 200 bpm.  So in the first row, you will see where the device tried to pace my heart back down to a “normal” rhythm.  And in the second row, you see what happens when your heart get a 300V shock.
So I went to the cardiologist today.  The EP tech and a kindly Medtronic tech sat with me and re-programmed my ICD.  It was no big deal.  It took about five minutes of real work and about fifteen minutes of discussing everything with the overly curious patient.  The device was reprogrammed to ensure that my t-wave won’t be mis-identified as a QRS-wave.  I then asked for a printout of the strip so I could post it for your review.
Two dozen years ago, I would have died – on numerous occasions.  A dozen years ago, I might have gotten an ICD; but I wouldn’t have been able to maintain my active lifestyle.  Now I have a next-generation device.  And this technology will someday save my life.  It is quite cool.  It can communicate wirelessly.  It can be reprogrammed while I’m awake and sitting in a chair wearing my normal clothes.  And I can be part of the entire process.  Couple that with the computer technology in my house and I can share part of the experience with you.
But despite all of the advances found in this device, I still live with the product of man’s ever-increasing knowledge.  It’s not perfect.  But it does save lives.  And with each generation, we know more and more.  But as I think about the Creator who designed and built us, I realize just how far we’ve come – and just how far we have to go to approach the healing power that is in His hands.  I really like my doctor.  But I really love my Creator, my Savior and my Lord.
Last week, I got a tangible reminder of how fragile and how temporary my current life is.  Tomorrow, I am on my bike again.  And I will be reminded of what a blessing every day truly is.
I want to thank each and every one of you for the prayers you’ve raised before our Lord.  He has heard them.  And He has answered your prayers through technology, through doctors and through His unparalleled mercy and grace.
-Roo

Let’s Proclaim the Unknown God

Lorin Olsen

To Terry Jones (Dove World Outreach, Gainesville, Florida), Bob Old (Springfield, Tennessee),  and Fred Phelps (Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas):

I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  And I believe that everyone must accept His sacrifice in order to obtain God’s forgiveness.  I am also an ardent Christian apologist.  So I understand that even the most pacific of Muslims will not enter into heaven.  That’s not because they are MORE evil (in man’s eyes) than Christians are.  Their fate is the same as our fate: it is totally dependent upon whether or not they accept the unmerited gift of forgiveness offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The only real difference between Muslims and Christians is where we are on our walk towards God.

  • Authentic Christians have accepted the fact that they have sinned.
  • Authentic Christians realize that those sins have separated them from God.
  • Authentic Christians recognize that there is nothing that they can do to bridge that separation.
  • Finally, authentic Christians have accepted the simple fact that God offered Himself to become the bridge between our fallen nature and God’s perfect nature.

A child raised in a “Muslim” nation is no different than a child raised in a “Christian” nation: both need to take the same path through the same four basic steps if they want to know God.  On these facts, Ithink we are in agreement.

But I cannot comprehend why you believe that antagonism and hatred are a means of drawing people into the loving and compassionate arms of Christ.  When Paul visited Athens (in Acts 17), I don’t see any evidence of the kind of exhortation that you are practicing.

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

If you want to draw people to Christ, act as Paul acted.  Find common ground and exploit that common ground as a means of demonstrating our unity as God’s creations – and our unfortunate unity as fallen creatures.  Don’t let your anger, frustration and zeal be your weapons.  These are weapons forged by your own hands.  Instead, let the Word of God be your two-edged sword.  God is just.  And God will judge both the righteous and the unrighteous (including ourselves).  Let that be God’s job.  Your job is to proclaim the unfailing love of Jesus Christ.

May the peace of our Lord and Savior be with you.  And may God open the ears of all men so that we can proclaim His Word with His Spirit.

-Roo

Let's Proclaim the Unknown God

Lorin Olsen


To Terry Jones (Dove World Outreach, Gainesville, Florida), Bob Old (Springfield, Tennessee),  and Fred Phelps (Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas):
I am a devoted follower of Jesus Christ.  And I believe that everyone must accept His sacrifice in order to obtain God’s forgiveness.  I am also an ardent Christian apologist.  So I understand that even the most pacific of Muslims will not enter into heaven.  That’s not because they are MORE evil (in man’s eyes) than Christians are.  Their fate is the same as our fate: it is totally dependent upon whether or not they accept the unmerited gift of forgiveness offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The only real difference between Muslims and Christians is where we are on our walk towards God.

  • Authentic Christians have accepted the fact that they have sinned.
  • Authentic Christians realize that those sins have separated them from God.
  • Authentic Christians recognize that there is nothing that they can do to bridge that separation.
  • Finally, authentic Christians have accepted the simple fact that God offered Himself to become the bridge between our fallen nature and God’s perfect nature.

A child raised in a “Muslim” nation is no different than a child raised in a “Christian” nation: both need to take the same path through the same four basic steps if they want to know God.  On these facts, Ithink we are in agreement.
But I cannot comprehend why you believe that antagonism and hatred are a means of drawing people into the loving and compassionate arms of Christ.  When Paul visited Athens (in Acts 17), I don’t see any evidence of the kind of exhortation that you are practicing.

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

If you want to draw people to Christ, act as Paul acted.  Find common ground and exploit that common ground as a means of demonstrating our unity as God’s creations – and our unfortunate unity as fallen creatures.  Don’t let your anger, frustration and zeal be your weapons.  These are weapons forged by your own hands.  Instead, let the Word of God be your two-edged sword.  God is just.  And God will judge both the righteous and the unrighteous (including ourselves).  Let that be God’s job.  Your job is to proclaim the unfailing love of Jesus Christ.
May the peace of our Lord and Savior be with you.  And may God open the ears of all men so that we can proclaim His Word with His Spirit.
-Roo